Justin Fields suffered a groin injury in practice this week, but is he playing today against the Buffalo Bills? The rookie quarterback drew rave reviews in his first preseason outing. If he gets healthy and plays well for the remaining two preseason games, it’ll be tough to excuse head coach Matt Nagy for not starting him in the regular season.
Justin Fields’ injury clouds preseason outlook
A groin injury sidelined Fields for Wednesday’s practice. Although Nagy wants Fields to get preseason reps versus the Bills, he’s not going to force the issue. As almost every franchise at this point, the team is being overly cautious when it comes to their future franchise quarterback.
Fields played well against the backups in his first preseason outing. As an athlete, he appeared to be the most physically gifted player on the turf. In fact, he was the third-fastest recorded player in Week 1 of the preseason, according to Next Gen Stats.
That from a 6-foot-3, 230-pound QB makes him a potential cheat code. The best part about Fields is he is not a running quarterback. He’s a QB that can run — and well — when he’s asked or needed to. He’s a passer first, however, and he proved that in his first outing.
The most impressive bit of his performance was the subtle pocket maneuvering he did to evade pressure. Fields possesses a great feel for pressure and how to manipulate the pocket to create throwing windows.
Is Justin Fields playing tonight?
Yes, Fields will play against the Bills. Andy Dalton will start the game and probably play into the second quarter. Fields should take the helm from him then and play into the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’ll get first-team reps this preseason, but it should only be a matter of time before he’s the Bears’ QB1.
Dalton Miller is the Lead NFL Analyst for Pro Football Network. You can find his writing here, and his voice and face on Pro Football Network Daily. Follow him on Twitch and Twitter.